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Stepping Stones Chapter II - A Whirlwind of Chaos

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The morning after Discord's appearance before Twilight and her friends, despite the return of pure chaos into Equestria, the library was still as quiet as usual. There was no discussion of the current situation, nor were there inquiries regarding the status of the two princesses. The six mares just looked at each other awkwardly, not even sure of what to say. Twilight was still impossible to communicate with. The sight of her mentor in stone had broken her.

"So," Rainbow Dash finally spoke. "What are we gonna do now?"

"Ain't much we can do without Twi," Applejack retorted.

"She's been completely silent since last night," Rarity added. "I've put nearly a dozen of those stuffy magic books in front of her, and she still won't budge an inch."

Silence reigned in the library once more as Spike made a slow crawl from the second floor and walked straight over to Twilight and clinging to her leg without saying a word. It pained him to see the pony who was practically his mother in such a state as this. Because Twilight was suffering, so was Spike. For nearly ten minutes, the room remained silent. Another inquiry broke the awkward silence.

"Are we really just gonna stand around and do nothing?" asked Rainbow Dash. "I mean, we've got pure chaos raining down on us! There has to be something we can do to fight back!"

"An' what do ya propose we do?" Applejack asked in reply. "What can we do? Discord ain't holdin' back none this time 'round, an' there ain't no Elements of Harmony without Twi."

"But he's got those little things with him this time! You saw them, right? Those...I don't even know what they're called! Twilight would know what they're-" Dash stopped, catching herself before she continued her sentence. Now wasn't the time to start yelling, placing blame or demanding answers. "We have to try doing something. Anything!"

"We could, um..." Fluttershy spoke meekly, trying her best as always not to be too loud. "Try to...ask him nicely to leave?"

All eyes but Twilight's and Spike's were on Fluttershy, and though they were not negative stares in any way, the shy pegasus curled up and simply said, "Sorry."

"That would have to be an absolute last resort, Fluttershy, dear," Rarity said, replying to Fluttershy's awkward suggestion in an attempt to save her feelings. "I wouldn't think he'd simply surrender just like that after going to all this trouble."

"O-oh. Right. I understand."

"But we have to do something!" Pinkie Pie suddenly exclaimed, jumping forward and nearly tripping over her own hooves. "Ponyville just got done with two chaos-related doozies! I don't think even Equestria can handle what Discord is doing this time!"

"We ain't gonna be able ta lock him away again just yet," said Applejack, looking out the library's window into the chaos-filled village. "But we can't just let those little buggers'a his run free causin' trouble fer other ponies. Ah say we round 'em up as best we can and put 'em someplace they ain't gonna be able to hurt nopony."

"What about your apple cellar?" Pinkie inquired excitedly. "You know, the one Twilight fell down into when she was trying to figure out how my Pinkie Sense worked!"

"Ah dunno," Applejack said in thought. "Only thing keepin' it shut is a wooden plank, really. It wouldn't hold 'em fer long."

"Then I'll stand guard and keep them in there," Rainbow proclaimed, forcefully stomping a hoof to the ground. "They won't be escaping on my watch."

"Then that's what we're doing?" asked Rarity. "We're going after Discord's unruly henchmen?"

"Sounds like it," Applejack answered, giving a nod. "It's all we can do while we wait fer Twi to recover."

The other four nodded in agreement as the girls made their way out of the library. Fluttershy was the last to leave, bidding a final meek farewell to Twilight and Spike. Being the Element of Kindness, she didn't like leaving the two alone like this, but what more could she do? She couldn't turn the princesses back, and she couldn't deny that gathering up Discord's minions would put the chaotic spirit at a disadvantage. She silently shut the library door and met up with the rest of her friends. Outside the library, things were rather quiet. The implings weren't bothering with anything near it, as they were far too busy harassing the townsponies with their vile pranks and sinister tricks. Discord may have had a greater plan than this in the long run, but his minions were simply harlequins and jesters whose only goal in life was achieving cheap laughs from the suffering of others. This was something they could handle, but the girls had a feeling that Discord knew that too.

"All right, girls, spread out and gather up as many o' them lil' varmints as ya can! Bring 'em down to Sweet Apple Acres and toss 'em down the cellar!"

"Right!" the other four mares shouted in unison as they broke off in different directions.

Rainbow Dash's initial idea was to hit Sweet Apple Acres first, considering she'd be standing guard over the imp prison once they were all rounded up. Moving as fast as she could, being Rainbow Dash and all, she was the first of her friends to arrive at her chosen destination. She could see that the farm had already been under attack by a small group of imps. Unfortunately for the minuscule peons, Apple Bloom's half-knowledge of martial arts had actually come in handy for once, as she was visibly seen standing atop an overturned apple basket, delivering kick after kick to the faces of any imps that dared approach. Sure enough, Apple Bloom wasn't the only one protecting the farm. If the imps weren't suffering at the hands of the kicking Crusader, they were being sent flying like rockets out of the atmosphere by a mighty buck from Big Macintosh.

"Well, it looks like I can just hang back and wait for this to blow over!"

Rainbow Dash pulled a cloud down from above her and laid back on it for all of five seconds before a sudden figure soared right through the cloud beneath her, breaking it up into nothing and sending her plummeting down. In her sudden panic, Rainbow could do nothing but flail about for several seconds before finally spreading her wings open and taking to the skies, turning her gaze rapidly across the skies to locate her foe.

"All right, what's the big idea?!"

Her assailants came into view: bat-winged imps wielding jagged spears hovered before her, jeering the rainbow-maned pegasus. These were obviously soldiers over pranksters, which meant Discord finally started taking things seriously.

"Oh, you wanna go?" Rainbow punched her hooves together, glaring at the group of winged minions. "Then let's go!"

The imps took off toward Discord's rift in the sky, and Rainbow immediately followed, moving more than twice as fast as the winged demons. One by one, she knocked the bat-winged creatures out of the sky, sending them crashing to the ground below.

"Yo, Big Mac!" Rainbow yelled down from above, gaining the attention of the burly crimson stallion. "I need you to get these imps into the apple cellar as I knock 'em down!"

Macintosh nodded, and one by one, as Rainbow sent the imps spiraling to the dirt, the mighty stallion began bucking them rather accurately over to the cellar entrance, where Apple Bloom did her part, opening the door and pushing the unconscious minions down the stairs. The winged imps stood no chance against the prismatic blur that was Rainbow Dash. Their speed was nothing compared to hers, and they knew that Discord had purposely sent them to their doom, or at least their imprisonment. In several minutes, the well-oiled imp-catching machine finished the job with Rainbow sending the last minion crashing down right into the cellar, landing behind the door, giving it a quick buck shut and standing atop it proudly, with Apple Bloom and Big Mac standing guard along with her.

"Oh, yeah. We're awesome."

In her moment of glory, Rainbow almost missed the sounds and feelings of something stomping across the ground in her direction. She cast her gaze toward the sounds to see a rather large, indistinguishable figure heading towards the farm through the forest, breaking down every tree in its path.

"That's...not a good sign..."

Rainbow and the two Apples stood at the ready, but none of them were prepared for what came next. As the last trees were pushed apart by a pair of large demon-like talons, the face of an exceptionally large ogreish creature shot forth and emitted a vicious, angry roar before setting its sights on Rainbow Dash and the two farm ponies standing guard before the cellar imprisoning its brothers and sisters.

"Uh...you two have a plan?" Rainbow asked, being in far too much of a panic to even consider logical thinking.

"Nope," Big Mac stated plainly with audible fear, receding from the beast's reach with as silent a walk as he could make with his heavy hooves.

"Ah got one," Apple Bloom replied, backing away slowly as well. "Run!"

Bloom and Mac took off toward the barn as the titan ogre lifted the trees from beside it and flung began swinging them at Rainbow Dash, knowing only retribution for its brethren in its mind. The cyan pegasus barely dodged the apple trees, the branches pulling a chunk of her prismatic mane out, leaving the remainder of it matted and unsightly. Rainbow Dash glared at the ogre, her wings flapping angrily.

"Oh, you wanna rumble with the Rainbow, big guy? Let's see what you've got!"

Rainbow took off and began circling the behemoth, evading every swing he made at her. Not only was she wearing the ogre out, but she was confusing him too and she was getting faster. She knew a Rainboom wouldn't be necessary for this, but she needed just enough speed for what she did have in mind.

"C'mon...just need to keep going...!"

The beast continued to attempt a strike on the supersonic pegasus, but failed to make contact due to the speed at which she flew. She continued picking up speed until she was but a blur, and a cyclone of colors formed around the giant, plucking him off his feet and up into the air. The giant roared angrily, still trying to swing at the cyan blur to no avail, earning a cocky chuckle from her.

"Can't touch me now, can ya? Didn't think so, punk!"

Rainbow bolted out of her colorful whirlwind, ceasing its spin and sending the ogre falling to the ground. The beast could do naught to save itself and crash-landed onto its back, slipping into a state of unconsciousness in the crater it formed on contact. Rainbow landed on the beast's stomach, standing proudly once again as Apple Bloom and Big Macintosh peered out of a crack in the barn door. At this point, as she caressed her damaged mane, Rainbow only had one thing to say.

"Anypony got any rope? I don't think this big lummox is gonna be out cold forever!"

Meanwhile, back in the library, Spike continued to try and snap Twilight out of her paralyzed daze. Nothing he tried would work, but he wouldn't give up. He'd keep trying for her sake. He  paced back and forth, muttering his failed attempts aloud to himself.

"C'mon, c'mon, think! What else can I do to get Twi back to normal? I've tried Miss Smarty Pants, I've tried her letters from Celestia...heck, I've even read her paragraph after paragraph from those spell books she reads before bed! There isn't anything else I can do..."

"You could give up," echoed a familiar chaotic voice that sent a chill down Spike's spine. "Surrender would be your best option right now, if you think about it."

With a bright white flash, Discord appeared within the library, sporting a top hat and cane. "Well, isn't this unexpected?" he sarcastically inquired with a light chuckle. "Half a day has gone by, and Twilight Sparkle is still as petrified as her precious teacher!"

Spike simply glared at the draconequus, not saying a word. Discord, of course, floated around the young dragon, tapping the cane around his feet.

"Now, now, little dragon. Leave the staring to Fluttershy. You're not very good at it."

"Why are you here?" Spike hissed, baring his tiny claws.

"Oh, I just came to check up on my little ponies...but as it would appear, they've already gone out to play with my imps, ogres and various other entities of disharmony, so I figured I'd stop by and see if the Element of Magic had broken free of her silly little trance. Unfortunately, she's just as boring as Celestia always was."

"Why are you even doing this?" Spike yelled in question. "I thought you were just a spirit of chaos. What's the point of taking the throne?"

"Just a spirit of chaos?" Discord faked a pout. "I'm hurt, little dragon. You clearly don't know my back-story. I suppose I'll just have to tell it."

Discord whipped his gryphon claw-hand through the air, summoning forth a glass of chocolate milk. He drank the glass itself and crushed the solidified chocolate drink into a cloud of dust, which began to generate an image. Spike stared into the cloud seeming to be only semi-impressed. He wouldn't want to give Discord more credit than he deserved.

"As you may notice, I call Celestia boring quite often...there is a reason behind it, but I doubt any of you little ponies, or dragon, would have ever cared to listen. But since you're not going anywhere, I'll take this opportunity to weave my tale for you."

The clouds swirled into formation, presenting Spike with a depiction of a younger Celestia. Her mane had not yet gained its magical flow or its majestic colors, and she was no bigger than any young filly.

"You see, Celestia was quite bored herself in her youth. Nothing to do, nopony to play with and a younger sister that couldn't even speak and required the utmost attention from her parents. She was all alone...and that's when I came along."

The image shifted to show a smaller Discord crash-landing in the royal garden like that of a meteor and Celestia heading out to investigate. She brought the young draconequus into the palace library and fell asleep herself.

"After my recovery, Celestia and I became...friends...rather quickly. I began introducing her to my special brand of magic...my chaos. At first, she loved it. She loved me. Or so I thought."

The chocolate cloud moved to the next image, which showed a young Discord and Celestia pulling pranks on various guardsponies and Canterlot citizens.

"We so enjoyed toying with the guards and townsponies, and it felt like it would never end! Countless hours of cotton candy clouds, dancing flower beds, animated armor and chocolate beverage raining from the sky! It was glorious!"

The image that formed next showed Discord setting off away from Canterlot castle, leaving a saddened Celestia behind.

"Alas...the one thing that continued to bother me was my origin...so I set out to discover where I'd come from. I searched for years and years and found nothing...not even a sign of my birth. So I chose to return to my beloved Celestia. But little did I know..."

The next image displayed was that of Celestia tending to her duties as the princess, and shrugging off Discord's pranks and tricks as he danced around the room, seeming only to amuse himself.

"In the years I'd been gone, she'd become so obsessed with work, and left herself no time to enjoy the simpler things in life! She pushed me away and told me she was too busy for 'silly games'! She said she was bored of pointless pranks'! She turned into exactly what those stuffy ponies wanted her to, so I gave up trying to get her back. If I couldn't have my Celestia, nopony could!"

The next image showed Discord raining fiery boulders down upon Canterlot as he laughed madly.

"I began showing all of Canterlot my ultimate chaos, and they all fled in terror! It was the most amazing thing I'd ever done! I'd become a glorious emperor of entropy! I ruled with no question, but something was still missing. Then, as if reality was answering my question, Celestia finally returned to me! But it was not as I'd hoped..."

The final image revealed Discord being sealed in stone by Celestia and the six stones bearing the Elements of Harmony levitating above her. His expression was that of pure unexpected fear.

"She'd remained the same as they'd all wanted her to...she was still a stuffy little princess, and she came to the beck and call of her people to put me in stone and end my 'reign of terror'. As I sat in stone in the garden, I plotted and I waited...I waited for over one thousand years."

"Sounds like this all started because you were bored," Spike seethed, still poised to attack.

"Perhaps," replied Discord, waving away the cloud images. "But I was only bored because Celestia was so boring. Besides, she's much more interesting as a doorstop than a princess, don't you think so, my little dragon?"

Spike growled angrily as Discord stifled a giggle, then began chuckling, then broke out into a full-fledged laugh that echoed throughout the library. After a moment of thoroughly enjoying his own sick sense of humor, the chaotic spirit calmed himself down, wiping a nonexistent tear from his eye as his laugh dimmed to a chuckle.

"Well, I must be off once again. The palace's redecoration is nearly complete, and I don't want to miss the unveiling!"

With his usual burst of light, the draconequus disappeared. Spike disregarded the disharmonious spirit's ramblings and continued, with little to no success, attempting to stir Twilight from her trance.
Chapter two of eight.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic © Hasbro/Lauren Faust
Discord EuroChaos Mix © T Stebbins
© 2012 - 2024 Clockwork-Canter
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